Photo and blog post by John HoffI use to write quite a bit about 3119 4th St. N, known as "Mold-O-Topia" and the "other Apartment Complex of Anarchy" in the Hawthorne EcoVillage. But I don't need to write about this hellhole anymore because the city tore it down, which caused the scurrying evacuation of a fair number of thugs who lived there. Some decent folks may have lived there, too, but what could be done? The place was a hellhole, so infested with mold you could plainly smell it outside the building.
In the course of the demolition of that building, I picked up a souvenir brick, adding it to my rather extensive "North Minneapolis rock collection" which includes such gems as...
...a piece of rubble from the "Uncle Lennie's" store (it flew into the street, I picked it up) and a stone which was apparently used to break into the window of my van.
So when the chimney at my house needed to be tuck pointed, and a skilled handyman bid on the job at a really reasonable price, I asked the handyman to remove one of the old bricks from my chimney and deliberately substitute the "war trophy brick" from 3119 4th St. N.
Since the "war trophy brick" is much lighter, it's visible in the chimney if you know exactly where to look. If somebody asks me why there is one light brick amid all the darker bricks, I will explain where that lighter brick came from and how I salvaged that brick as a small, useful, symbolic resource which can contribute to our neighborhood's revitalization effort.
Every time the alienated, malcontent loser enemies of revitalization turn their impotent wrath toward us, we only grow stronger. We gain in tactical experience, in inspiring tales of our collective neighborhood adventures, and sometimes we actually walk away with useful material resources. (Need I remind anybody about the PERFECTLY GOOD SHOES taken off power lines?)
That is the lesson of the war trophy brick: REVITALIZATION IS BUSTING OUT ALL OVER NoMi. We are building a beautiful Urban Utopia literally from the rubble of what used to be--once upon a time--a refuge of crime and anarchy. Now is the time to join the movement, and buy your dream home for pennies on the dollar.
When a house is demolished in the city who is the owner of the debris? I often see antique moldings etc in homes destroyed and would love to back up my truck and try and recover or maybe even resell what isn't damaged. Based on this post it seems like once the home is destroyed we can pick through and take what we want?
ReplyDeleteNo, you can't "pick through and take what you want" but if you talk to the nice man with the truck, and ask him nice, and explain your reasoning, he might just let you have something inconsequential like a BRICK.
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